09/01/2023 - Saabo Balde, Jonathan Couzinié, Aurélia Petit and Philippe Frécon are also starring in the cast of Stéphane Marchetti’s debut feature, steered by Blue Monday Productions and sold by Be For Films

Actress Florence Loiret-Caille (© Unifrance)

The first clapperboard is set to slam tomorrow on À la frontière, the debut fiction feature film by Stéphane Marchetti who distinguished himself in the documentary field, notably via Rafah, chroniques d’une ville dans la bande de Gaza (awarded the Golden FIPA for Major Reports and the Albert-Londres Prize), before taking part in La Fémis’ Screenplay Workshop in 2019 and in Emergence in 2021.

Stand-out names in the cast include Florence Loiret-Caille (nominated for 2010’s Best New Hope César via Someone I Loved [+see also:
trailer
film profile], recently well-received in The Young Lovers [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], as well as in the series The Bureau [+see also:
interview: Frédéric Lavigne
series profile], and hitting screens in Stéphane Demoustier’s new film this year), Saabo Balde (who turned countless heads in Mali Twist [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and who’ll be viewable in Jean-Pascal Zadi’s series En place from 20 January on Netflix), Jonathan Couzinié (revealed in Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2019 via Heroes Don’t Die [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aude Léa Rapin
film profile]), Aurélia Petit (recently at her best in A Tale of Love and Desire [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Saint Omer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alice Diop
interview: Kayije Kagame
film profile]) and Philippe Frécon (recently seen in Magnetic Beats [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vincent Maël Cardona
film profile], but first and foremost an accomplished theatre actor working under Joël Pommerat, among others).

Written by Stéphane Marchetti in collaboration with Laurette Polmanss (nominated for 2022’s Best Original Screenplay César thanks to The Divide [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Catherine Corsini
film profile], as well as for 2019’s Best Adapted Screenplay Award via An Impossible Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), the story takes us to Briançon in the Hautes-Alpes region, on the border between France and Italy, in the depths of winter. 45-year-old Marie, who has a young student daughter, is separated from her husband and gets by each month by taking on casual work on both sides of the border. But then she reconnects with Alex, an old high school acquaintance. It marks the beginning of a relationship which takes her further than she thought…

À la frontière is produced by Bertrand Gore on behalf of Blue Monday Productions, in co-production with Le Bureau and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma. Pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature film also enjoys backing from the Sud Paca region and from the SOFICA company Cofinova. The movie’s 29-day film shoot will include four weeks in Briançon and the surrounding area, and two weeks in Lyon, with Sébastien Goepfert (Bloody Milk [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hubert Charuel
film profile], A Tale of Love and Desire) heading up photography and editing entrusted to Damien Maestraggi (A Family for 1640 Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Beasts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]). Distribution in France will be steered by UFO and international sales by Be For Films.

For the record, Blue Monday Productions recently produced Léonor Serraille’s Cannes competitor Mother and Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Léonor Serraille
film profile], as well as Fogaréu [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Brazil’s Flávia Neves (discovered in the Panorama section of last year’s Berlinale). They’re also overseeing the final stages of post-production on You Promised Me the Sea by Nadir Moknèche (starring Youssouf Abi-Ayad and Kenza Fortas).

(Translated from French)